Chennai Mathematical Institute

Lecture Series


CMI-NASI Online Outreach Lectures for Schools, September–November, 2020

  1. The Periodic Table — A Masterpiece in Systematization
    Dr. K Viswanathan

    In the early stages of our education, Chemistry is often perceived as a subject where one just needs to memorize a large number of formulae and chemical reactions. In reality, there is an enormous amount of rational thinking that is brought in to explain the properties, reactivity and behaviour of molecules. The evolution of the periodic table is a classic example where Mendeleev attempted, and successfully too, to discern a method in all the madness in Chemistry. Mendeleev first presented his version of the periodic table in 1869 to the Russian Chemical Society. Last year, 2019, was celebrated as the International Year of the Periodic Table to commemorate 150 years since the discovery of the periodic table. We will trace the work of Mendeleev and follow it up with the developments that helped in our understanding of the atomic structure, which eventually rationalized the periodic table.

  2. Clean Water
    Prof. Rama S Verma, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras

    Water is one of the constituents of life on earth. In our body 60% is water of total weight. Water is essential for life as it involves in various important functions in our body. Drinking clean water is essential and important as it helps to replenish the daily loss of water through natural means such as urination, perspiration and motion. Water is available in the planet in various forms such as the crystal water as ice and glaciers, liquid water as in ponds and rivers. Water is also available beneath the earth, which can be available by digging the well and bore well. Water can be stored in natural forms (ponds, lakes) and artificial forms (dams). It is also used for irrigation, which provides nutrition to plants and in cultivation of the crops. We need to drink water daily as it helps to avoid us from getting dehydrated. The stagnant water, river and well water can be contaminated by bacteria, virus and other microorganism as water is a natural habitat for these organisms. When we drink this contaminated water, we get sick and develop various illness. So for a healthy life, we need to drink clean water. There are various ways by which we can clean the contaminated water. One of the simplest technology is boiling the contaminated water that can be used as source for clean water. Heating or boiling of water kills most of the bacteria and inactivates the microorganisms. This is a very important practice which has been documented since ancient time. Previously the amount of contaminated water was less and availability of pure water was more and we were able to drink the flowing water from river and mountain water and glaciers directly. In the last century, water is getting contaminated due to various reasons such as industrialization and increased pollution. So there is a need for newer technology to clean the contaminated water. The silica based filters were used earlier to remove smell and absorb small particles and bacteria. Last two decades the reverse osmosis technology has been developed to clean the water. In my presentation I will highlight these points in detail to understand the importance of clean water for healthy life. If we are healthy our nation is also healthy.

  3. Logical Reasoning through Puzzles
    Dr. C Aiswarya, Chennai Mathematical Institute

    We will see some logic puzzles. We will solve them. We will analyze our reasoning that allowed us to arrive at a conclusion. We will admire the little logicians in us.

  4. Euler's Polyhedron Theorem and Some Applications
    Dr. Shailesh Shirali, Director, Sahyadri School (KFI), Pune

    Euler's theorem for convex polyhedra, V - E + F = 2, is well known. In this brief talk, we shall describe a less known result first found by Rene Descartes which is closely related to Euler's theorem. We shall also talk about some non-obvious applications of Euler's theorem.

  5. Searching for Beauty: Finding one in a Billion with the CMS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider
    Prof Jim Libby, IIT Madras

    The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was one of two experiments that discovered the long sought Higgs Boson. The LHC is the premier particle accelerator in the world and is situated at European centre for particle physics at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC and CMS are still operating and will do so in upgraded form well into the 2030s. In this talk I will review the discovery of the Higgs boson before discussing one of the many other measurements that CMS is pursuing. This relates to a rare process involving the so-called beauty quark. No advanced knowledge of particle physics is assumed.

  6. The Sound of Music
    Dr. Sushan Konar, Former Scientist, NCRA Pune

    Human beings are the only living creatures who are capable of creating long, coherent, and pleasing pieces of sound — ordinarily called 'music'. This capability arises from a unique interaction between the laws of physics and the special characteristics of our auditory system. In this talk, we look at this interaction and see how some of our familiar musical structures have come about, with a special reference to Indian classical music.

  7. Bioplastics
    Prof. Rama S Verma, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras

    Plastic production and pollution are also fueling climate change. Globally, up to 12.7 million tons of plastic waste ends up in the water bodies every year. Ingestion of plastics by different animals is one of the leading causes of ecological diversity loss. The dawn of plastic use has immensely affected each and every aspect of human lives. To reduce plastic pollution different strategies gave been employed one such strategy is Bioplastic production. Bioplastic is a bio-based plastic which is biodegradable source in nature. Bioplastic can act as substitute for the plastic as it can be easily digested by different microorganisms thus help us regenerate fossil resources. Since with the introduction of every novel technology comes some consequences. Thus, here in this paper we are discussing one such issue: different approaches to degrade bioplastic. A mechanical method which generally talks about the different technologies or tools involved in biodegradation of Bioplastic as well as biological method which deals with the different microbial species involved in the process.